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Weekly ForceCast: June 17, 2011
This week, Star Wars Producer Rick McCallum talks live-action TV, 3D, and Red Tails; E3 sees Star Wars Kinect preview and a new trailer for The Old Republic; and Mark Dermul joins us for a Lars Homestead restoration project update. Plus, Billy Dee, Star Wars in Pop Culture, and much, much more! Guests *Mark Dermul from the "Save The Lars Homestead" project Topics *Jason plugs the ForceCast Flickr group. *Jason and Jimmy discuss Google's Les Paul guitar doodle and the Star Wars tunes that people have composed on it. *Jason and Jimmy discuss Father's Day Star Wars-style. **Jimmy reads an email from a listener in Chile who asks for advice about fatherhood, particularly as it relates to being a geeky father. After Jimmy gives this listener his advice, discussion shifts to the question of what viewing order should be used to introduce young children to the saga. Jason plays clips from a Star Wars Parenting PSA to illustrate several ways in which Star Wars dads attempt to bring their kids into the fold. **As part of their Star Wars Father's Day coverage, Jason plays a voicemail from a listener who sent in an audio clip from CIII. The audio is of a CIII PA system announcement informing Jimmy and his brother Billy Mac that they had "a lost item" to pick up at the security booth. Jimmy tells the story: While waiting for an autograph from Barrie Holland, he learned from Billy Mac that his young son Michael was listening. He waited in line for the autograph and raced off to find his son; luckily Michael had found a convention center employee and was safe. *Jason reads an email from Martin, the listener whom James Arnold Taylor mentioned last week in reference to his video question at the Star Wars Weekends Stars of the Saga show. Martin saw James at Disney World and he was able to pre-record a question that would be presented at the talk show. He wrote in last week to say that he was so nervous that he needed seven takes to ask the question, but James, on the air at the time, said that he did just fine. In this new email, Martin laments how he sounded in the video clip played at the talk show. However, after Jason plays the audio, Jimmy says that Martin did a great job with his question. (Martin asked Jeremy Bulloch what it smelled like on the inside of Boba Fett's helmet after a full day of shooting.) *Billy Dee Quote of the Week **This clip is from an episode of That '70s Show, where Williams played a marriage counselor. (Jason and Jimmy previously featured other clips from this episode.) **In more outrageous Billy Dee-related news, a man named Lando Calrissian Young was arrested in Michigan in connection with a shooting incident. *Headline News **Jason and Jimmy discuss Rick McCallum's interview with a Czech website. McCallum discussed the 3D film re-releases and dropped hints about the live-action series. He mentioned a Godfather-like premise for the series, with drugs, prostitution, and the Empire consolidating its power. ***Jimmy jokingly proposes a variety of premises for the live-action series, one of which involves Kitster, Ben Quadinaros, and the Queen of Naboo participating in a Survivor-like competition. ***On the 3D front, Jason mentions the variety of reactions to McCallum's interview. He says that, for kids raised on TCW, these re-releases will sort of be "their Prequels" -- for them, it will be the second phase of mainstream Star Wars entertainment on a screen (after TCW). ***Jason and Jimmy discuss the various marketing and licensing approaches to the 3D re-releases. Jason said that Star Wars is a box office hit whenever it comes to theaters, and Jimmy counters by pointing to the TCW film. Jason says that that film wasn't heavily marketed, and that he expects the 3D re-releases to be promoted much more heavily. In their discussion of the 3D re-releases, Jason and Jimmy also touch on ticket prices (especially for families and repeat viewers) and the appeal of 3D (or lack thereof). Jason wonders if, in order to draw in more moviegoers, Lucasfilm might also re-release the films in 2D. Jimmy says that a 3D-only re-release is "the right thing to do," saying that this move has been planned for some time, but he wonders how successful this strategy will be if it is 3D-only. ***Jason points out that the re-release of TPM has timing on its side. As a February release, Episode I will debut in 3D at a time when theater attendance is an appealing prospect for parents of restless kids cooped up inside during winter. However, Jimmy also says that word of mouth "will drive it the most." He and Jason agree that "it's a gamble" for Lucasfilm to do these re-releases. ***McCallum also discussed Lucas' latest film project, Red Tails. Jason and Jimmy discuss this film and listen to a clip of Red Tails actor Cuba Gooding, Jr. discussing the project on The Today Show. **Star Wars featured heavily at the 2011 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) this past week. Kinect Star Wars and The Old Republic were previewed, demoed, teased, discussed, and tested. ***Jason and Jimmy discuss the new TOR trailer, "Return." Jason says of the trailer, "It felt like a bad reboot of Star Wars." Jimmy notes that the smuggler character who features heavily in this trailer was clearly intended to be the Han Solo of TOR. "It's so derivative of itself," Jason adds. He agrees with Jimmy's assessment of the trailer as "a cheap knock-off" of classic Star Wars material. Jason and Jimmy also point out that the changes in armor, ships, and technology between TOR and the PT seem too minimal given that the time gap is about 1,000 years. ***Regarding the overdone nature of these TOR trailers, Jason says that "the key here is restraint." Jason believes that Dave Filoni and his crew wake up every morning thinking, "Wouldn't it be cool if---!" but restrain themselves and temper their excitement in order to present saga-appropriate product on The Clone Wars. He thinks that the creators of these TOR trailers are showing too little restraint. ***Jason and Jimmy are more optimistic about Kinect Star Wars, which Microsoft showed off at E3. "This game is not about making significant contributions to canon," Jason says approvingly. He likens it to Battlefront in terms of its drop-in-and-play nature. He says that he's more attracted to this Kinect game than he is to TOR. Jason then plays some audio that Jimmy found of E3 attendees playing the Kinect game. In the clip, Jason thinks he hears the players say "The ForceCast is jealous." **Jason plugs the latest Jedi Journals Microcast, where Jay and Chris discuss the just-announced upcoming retirement of LucasBooks Executive Editor Sue Rostoni. **Jason plays an interview that Jimmy recorded last week with "Save the Lars Homestead" project leader Mark Dermul. *The Outrageous Unthinkable Story of the Week **Jason reads the headline incredulously: "Actor who played Ewok in Star Wars and Harry Potter goblin 'touched himself for 30 minutes in front of teenage girl on train'". Jason reads from The Daily Mail's description of the incident, with Jimmy jokingly warning Jason away from certain sentences in the article and both co-hosts bursting into laughter at various points in the summary. Jason and Jimmy then read the headlines from other sites that reported this story. Significant quotes *Quotes go here. Audible.com Sponsorship *Visit AudiblePodcast.com/TFN for a free audiobook download.